


Snapshot

by china_shop



Category: White Collar
Genre: Dating, Established Relationship, F/M, Fic, M/M, Multi, Schmoop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-21
Updated: 2011-05-21
Packaged: 2017-10-19 16:34:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/202927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/china_shop/pseuds/china_shop
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was the mid-afternoon on a Sunday, and only the second time they'd been out as a threesome.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snapshot

**Author's Note:**

> Set sometime after 2.10. Thanks to mergatrude for beta and Sage for a spot of Ameripicking.

El sat sandwiched between Neal and Peter at a tiny corner table in the back of her favorite chocolaterie, her hands wrapped around a mug of dark chili hot chocolate. It was mid-afternoon on a Sunday, and only the second time they'd been out as a threesome. They'd dropped Satchmo off at home, worn out from his walk, and El had lured her boys out to the shop with promises of warmth and sweetness. There was a steady stream of people buying chocolates from the counter, but only a few others at the tables. Plus the size of their table was the perfect excuse to snuggle up close together.

Neal blew on the surface of his drink and settled back, looking thoroughly pleased with the world. El plucked a fragment of red-gold maple leaf out of his hair and handed it to Peter, who solemnly tucked it into his breast pocket. "He gets sentimental," she told Neal, in answer to his raised eyebrows.

Neal laughed under his breath and pressed his leg against hers. "You look gorgeous."

El knew her nose and cheeks were pink, and her hair was probably in utter disarray, but who was she to argue. "The fifteenth official meeting of the mutual admiration society, Brooklyn chapter is hereby called to order. I think we have a quorum."

"I'm pretty sure we shouldn't read the minutes of the last meeting out loud," said Peter, his voice a low amused rumble. "At least, not in public."

"You might be right about that," said Neal. He elbowed El lightly in the ribs, and she caught a faint whiff of his cologne, making her stomach flutter, but his gaze was on Peter. "You and me—when did you know?"

El shot him a startled glance, surprised at the sudden change of subject, but it didn't seem to be triggered by anything serious. Neal's expression was light, playful. Curious. It was strange to think he'd been on the outside for so long, while she and Peter had been talking out their feelings for him, deciding what was the right thing to do. It was as if they'd started the relationship without him—not just their marriage, but the three of them. Of course he was still playing catch-up.

"Oh, I held out for a while," said Peter, winking at him. He popped a mint chocolate into his mouth. "Of course, El was telling me I had to take a leap of faith back during the missing Bible case."

"I didn't mean that kind of a leap," said El, swatting him half-heartedly. Then she caught Neal's eye and grinned. "On second thought, maybe I did."

Neal's eyes glinted. "If I'd known that, I wouldn't have bothered working so hard to get your attention." He bent his head to murmur in her ear, "Not that it wasn't completely worth it."

"Virtue is its own reward," said Peter, sounding ever so slightly pompous. El leaned against him and shook her head at Neal in mock despair.

"So I've been told," said Neal. He met Peter's gaze, and El was pretty sure they were playing footsie under the table. "As rewards go, I prefer this."

"This—has a lot to recommend it." Peter smiled and rested his arm along the back of the bench seat, his fingers lightly brushing Neal's collar. El held her breath, caught in a snapshot moment of pure joy.

She risked touching Neal's hand, trusting that everyone around them had better things to do than to spy on their private interactions, and he smoothed his thumb across her knuckles before she pulled away again. "When did you know about me?"

"When you talked that guy off the phone during the Larsen sting," said Neal, without hesitation. "I mean, I admired you from day one, but after that, I couldn't get you out of my mind." Neal glanced down at his coffee. "I thought Peter would kill me if he knew. Or pity me."

"Aw, you wanted to bring me flowers and make love to me?" asked El, flirting at him through her eyelashes, bringing him back to the present where he was free to do exactly that.

Neal blinked away past melancholy and sent her a look that plainly said he was thinking about making love with her right now. "Yes," he said. "Or watch Peter do it."

Peter snorted softly. "When have you been able to sit back and watch anything?"

Neal grinned, and El listened to them tease each other, her boys, and knew there was another conversation they had yet to have—about when Peter had first fallen for Neal, and vice versa. She remembered Peter coming home from Neal's place, tense and upset, telling her Neal was going to go after the music box, and if he did, Peter would have no choice but to arrest him again. And after that, after Kate, the multitude of times she'd caught Neal watching Peter with a wistful hunger, not just in his face, but in the angles and attitudes of his being. It had grown and grown between them until it couldn't be ignored, and she was grateful beyond measure that it had strengthened her marriage, rather than tearing it apart. But this wasn't the time or the place for any of that, so she smiled at the story Peter was telling and reveled in the moment, in Neal pressed up against one side and Peter against the other, and when Neal said, "Shouldn't we go? Satchmo must be starving," and Peter said, "Yeah, let's get moving," El swallowed the last of her hot chocolate, pulled her red woolen hat from her pocket, and said it too.

"Home. Let's go home."

END


End file.
